Six Pakistanis to die for tribal jury's gang rape

Six men were sentenced to death in Pakistan early today for a gang rape sanctioned as a brutal punishment by a tribal council.

The case has highlighted the abuse of women in conservative parts of Pakistan where traditional customs take precedence over national laws.

Mukhtar Mai, the 30-year-old victim of the June 22 rape, was not present when the special anti-terrorism court in the Punjab town of Dera Ghazi Khan announced the decision shortly after midnight.

The six sentenced to death included the four rapists and two members of the panchayat, or traditional council jury, that ordered the rape. Another eight men who sat on the jury were acquitted.

Ms Mai said she was raped by four men after approaching the panchayat in her Punjabi village of Meerawali to settle a dispute with a rival clan. She said she went to the village council after her 12-year-old brother Abdul Shakoor was kidnapped and sodomised by members of the Mastoi family - a higher-status clan than hers - as a punishment for having an illicit affair with one of their relatives.

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The council allegedly ruled that to save Mastoi honour, the boy should marry the woman with whom he was linked, while Ms Mai should marry a Mastoi man. When she rejected the decision, prosecutors say she was gang raped by four Mastoi men and made to walk home nearly naked in front of a crowd.

There have been dozens of gang rapes and "honour" killings - the latter involving the murder of women by fathers or brothers for "crimes" such as marrying without the consent of male relatives - in Punjab this year.

Village councils are often convened to settle local disputes, and women often end up as the pawns of village elders.

The latest case caused an outcry when it was publicised in national newspapers to highlight the plight of women in rural areas, where feudal customs still rule. Armed police were stationed around Dera Ghazi Khan, where hundreds of members of both families and their supporters had gathered for the verdict. Police commandos ringed the court house.

Ms Mai said before the verdict that members of her family had been threatened with death if the men were convicted and had asked the government for security.

Hazoor Baksh, her brother, said he was happy that justice had been done. "We are grateful to God, the oppressors have met their end. This is truly justice," he said, but added that all 14 accused should have been punished.